It was early Sunday evening and I’d just gotten back from the farm, and was sitting in Gram’s living room with a cup of cocoa and a plate of cookies.

“Easy for you to say,” I mumbled with a mouthful of Pecan Sandies.

“Oh, Alex,” Gram scolded, “with all you’ve been through, this is just a little bump in the road.”

She was right, of course. Since Saturday evening, everyone at the farm had been trying to convince me to go ahead with the Florida trip, but so far, I wasn’t convinced.

I had a long discussion with Bob about the issue and finally confessed my fears about mental illness. He thought that if it was indeed a panic attack, that it could probably be controlled with medication. That just depressed me further, because I thought that I was finished with all those drugs. Before I literally outgrew it, I was taking some twenty pills a day, just to be functional. Not having to take them anymore was extremely satisfying. It reminded me of the old bible verse and the scales fell from my eyes.

In the meantime, I’d just have to hope that the lab results came back with some kind of useful information.

“I had the most dreadful hallucinations afterward from the anesthetic. I thought there were strangers prowling around my room.”

“That’s creepy,” I said.

“It certainly was. But they went away.”

“But I don’t think that’s really the same, Gram,” I said.

“Well, the point is that once I recognized what was happening, I wasn’t afraid anymore. It’ll be the same for you.”

“I hope so.”

Growth takes a holiday.

It’s not easy being big enough to have your own zip-code, but it helps if you’re as strong as an ox—or three. Muscle teen titan Alex Johnson not only has to adapt to his new size, but has to cope with finishing his senior year in high school. So far, Alex has managed to keep the school bullies in check, but couldn’t salvage his oldest friendship. Alex is also worried that some of his old developmental problems might be coming back to haunt him and nearly cancels a spring break trip with his hunky boyfriend Ryan, who turns out to be maybe not as mature as Alex thought. Can Alex patch it up with his friend? Can he keep his boyfriend from getting him into any more trouble? Can he really fit into those teeny-tiny swim trunks?